What's all this?
by TheForeverGirl20
Summary: Hiccup shows Astrid what he's been working on at the forge (mapping, plans for the village, and even a flight suit). Takes place around the end of the Defenders of Berk and before Race to the Edge. Everyone is still young and alive. I've been working on this for two years, finally got it out there, hope it doesn't suck that much.


**What's all this?**

Astrid looked around, The Great Hall was filled with loud, drunk Vikings and their dragons, all celebrating Thor knows what. The loudest and drunkest being of course their very own Chief. Stoick the Vast lived up to his name, his laughter roared through the Hall. Astrid couldn't make out what he was saying, maybe recalling an old war story or perhaps a tale of his son when was a younger boy.

 _His son._

Astrid mentally punching herself. How did she not notice what was missing.Or in this case who was missing.

 _Hiccup_.

With all the commotion, she hadn't noticed the absence of the heir. But it was nothing new. For the past week or so Hiccup has locked himself in either the forge building something or in his room drawing up designs for some crazy new gadget.

 _I wonder if he's eaten._

She hadn't seen him in a few hours, could it be possible he snuck in at least one meal?

Astrid walked back over to the other teens at a table near the doors. Ruff was rolling on the ground cackling, Fish looked like he might throw up at any second, while Tuff and Snot were having a screaming match. Nothing new.

"Tuff that never happened!" Snotlout yelled red-faced, pounding on the table.

"Do I even want to know?" Astrid said grabbing a plate and gathering food on it.

"Oh, Astrid!" Tuff said in between chuckles, "You'll love this, so one night I was walking on the beach, right, but then I saw Snotlout holding a fish and he-" Snotlout tackled Tuffnut to ground in the misted of his story. Ruffnut egging them on banging her fist on the table. While Fishlegs, green faced, still tried to keep his dinner down.

Astrid rolled her eyes "Wow, interesting," she picked the last piece of bread and turned on her heels "But I have to go" fake disappointment rang in her voice.

"Wait, you're going to miss all the fun!" Tuffnut managed to weasel out as Snot's hands were wrangled around his neck.

Snotlout tried puffing out his chest, "Where are you going, anyways?" He was now banging Tuff's head on the hard ground.

"Uhg guys, leave her alone!" Ruffnut groaned "Now bash my brother's head in!" she threw a fast smirk at Astrid that seem to say 'You owe me an explanation' and waggled her eyebrows.

Astrid gave her friend a small nod in gratitude, knowing full well that Ruff would be disappointed with her explanation. She was after all only bring Hiccup dinner, just a quick in and out. Hiccup would be working so hard that he won't even notice her.

She closed the great doors to the Mead Hall, and the party noise was cut off. Astrid looked out onto the village, all dark.

 _Good_ she thought to herself _No fires tonight._

Lately some of the dragons would catch a house or two on fire, but luckily nothing to big to worry about. She adjusted her grip on the plate full of food and continued down the long steps.

As she made her way down the steps she couldn't help but to remember the last time she brought food to Hiccup. It was right after the battle with the Red Death, Hiccup was unconscious at the time and had the whole village worried. Stoick wouldn't leave his son's side and would neglected eating. So she- or sometimes Gobber- would bring food to the Haddock home, only for it to go to waste. Neither Stoick nor Hiccup would eat.

But Hiccup wasn't at his house, by evidence of the dark house on the top of the hill. He must be at the forge. Astrid made her way past the village center where a large black beast was guarding the entrance to the forge. The once feared Night Fury that would fly over the village and burned homes with one shot was now a harmless sleeping reptile.

His ears perked up as Astrid approached she bended down to pet his head.

"Hey there Toothless, Hiccup still working?" she said in a low voice as if she not to wake him anymore.

Toothless opened one green eye and sighed, obviously agitated by his rider's employment. And if Astrid was being honest with herself, she was a bit annoyed with Hiccup as well.

"Me too," she sighed. The Night Fury nodded slightly in agreement and then shifted his tail over his eyes back to rest.

Astrid took a fish from the plate and set it under the beast's noise, Hiccup wouldn't miss it. She stepped over the grateful dragon and into the forge.

The forge was noticeably warmer than outside and a whole lot messier. Axes, and swords, and shields, oh my. The floor was littered with Viking weaponry. Astrid had to watch where she walked.

 _How the Hel does Hiccup get around, clumsy as he is, without tripping_ she thought maneuvering over the walkway of weapons.

Hiccup wasn't in the main work room, but Astrid saw the backroom was lit.

 _Found him_.

The backroom of the forge was a smaller room with a desk which Hiccup sat at with his back to her. It looked like he was drawing or writing in some booklet, the book of dragons perhaps. It was even messier than the main room not only with weapons,

but mostly blueprints, wall to floor blueprints. All in Hiccups handwriting.

Astrid let her eyes wonder around the room, she was never really mechanically minded as Hiccup, but she was still curious. She sat the plate of food on a small table near the door, careful not to disturb the working fishbone. She smiled to herself she always thought Hiccup looked kind of cute when he worked on something, the book of dragons or some new invention, it didn't matter. He scrunch up his eyebrows and bite his lower lip, in fact he was probably doing it right now while writing in that book.

He looked pretty busy, maybe she shouldn't interrupt… whatever he was doing. She already put the food down maybe he would eventually stop working to notice it. She could just leave now without him ever being the wiser, it was probably for the best anyway. Maybe is she left now she could hear the end of Tuffnut's story, anything humiliating Snot she wanted to be a part of.

Astrid took one final glance at the Hiccup working at his desk before turning to leave. 

_What a dork._

Astrid laughed and shook her head. She was just out of the threshold of the backroom when the shield maiden- ironically- didn't see the shield propped against the door frame.

Astrid fell to the ground with a loud clank from the metal weapons.

"SON OF A HALF-TROLL!" she yelled.

There was something sticking in her side. Why didn't she see that Thor Damned shield? The best warrior Berk has and she tripped on that stupid-

"Astrid?"

Astrid looked up from her distress to see Hiccup above her with worry in his eyes. She tried getting up but her side ached, "Aaah, damn."

She reached around to her waist to pull the handle of what felt like a dagger. But she felt a warm hand on her own instead.

Hiccup had kneeled beside her, "Don't, you'll cause more bleeding." His voice was shaken, "Here." He looped her arm around his slim shoulder and pulled her up to help her back on her feet. "Oh Gods Astrid, I'm sorry this is all my fault," He brought her into the back room and gently sat her down on his work bench. "Gobber keeps telling me to clean up, but I didn't listen, I wanted to finish my dumb work, and now you're hurt, I'm so sorry!" He went on like this while picking up bandages.

"Hiccup I'm fine," she said trying to calm her panicked friend, "it's not your fault, really I've had worse." She shifted in her seat in hopes to fine a less painful position.

Hiccup still paced around the tiny space looking for something, his metal foot clanking after him. He finally found a little the bottle and walked over to Astrid. "Ok, I need to see the wound."

Astrid laughed causing her side to hurt even more, "When did you become Gothi?" She lifted her shirt slightly and it got caught on the dagger.

They both blushed at her action, she turned her head to avoid his gaze. He cleared his throat to fill the awkward silence and kneeled at her side. "Yeah, I'm uh usually the one getting hurt so I um keep a first aid kit. You know, just in uh case." He took the bottle and squeezed and putting the contends on to a bandage.

"Ok this might sting a bit" Hiccup quickly pulled out the dagger and slathered the wound with the bandage. Astrid let out a sigh of pain as Hiccup finished bandaged her up.

"There all done," he looked up at her with his gap buck tooth smile that she found painfully cute, "luckily it wasn't deep, so you'll live to fight another day." He stood up and walked to the other side of the room to pack up the bandages.

Astrid pulled down her shirt to revile a fresh blood stain, "Thanks, another scar to add to the collection." She turned to look at the many blueprint on his desk, none of them she could understand.

He chucked closing the drawer, "So what brings you to the Forge at this time of night?" Hiccup leaned up against the drawer, it was then that Astrid noticed he wasn't wearing his fur vest. It was odd to see his string bean arms connected to his fishbone body without the fur vest as a buffer between them.

"Uh, well besides from being stabbed, I brought you some food," she gestured to the desk she left the food on.

Hiccup look confused "Huh Food, what?" He glanced around the familiar room till his eyes fell on the plate of food. "Oh. Thanks!" His emerald eyes lit up and he smiled again.

Astrid gulped. _Oh Gods, why is he so cute?_

Hiccup took some bread from the plate and ripped it apart and stuffed his mouth. Awkward silence ensued. The two dragon riders had barely been alone since they stopped the Screaming Death. What with the Dragon Academy, defending Berk and now Hiccup's new habit of locking himself up in the Forge to make… whatever these things were.

Astrid studied another blueprint on the wall next to her. She was puzzled by all these contraptions.

 _Seriously, what the Hel was this one? It looked like an ax with a net attached to it. Can't he just make a simple ax?_

She must have been noticeably wearing her confusion on her face because Hiccup cleared his throat once again.

"Uhm I see you take a liking to the Netaxe," he said setting his food down and walking back to the table. "It's an axe- with a net!" he flared his arms around to emphasize the weird new weapon.

Astrid cocked her head "But what's it do?" she asked.

Hiccup was words were caught in his throat and tried stuttering out his response, "Well, uh it's an axe that um… fires a net."

"Oh," Astrid nodded though she didn't still quite understand the concept, "I get it."

"It's still a work in progress," Hiccup laughed moving forward to scan is own work. "Needs some more tweaks." He shrugged. "But it would work just like my shield."

Astrid chuckled, _what a dork_ she thought _a cute dork._

She felt her cheeks grow warmer and she just knew they turned slightly pink. And by the looks of it so were Hiccup's, he was standing so close to her now. Nothing wrong with that, they're always close, ever since they defeated the Red Death. Astrid liked being close to him, she could see all the freckles on his face and even the faint little scar above his chin.

But this was different, she could feel her heart beating in her chest. She stood up and walked to the other opposite side of the room and pointed at another blueprint that looked like a waterslide. "And this one?"

"Ah, yeah that's a fire extinguisher system," Hiccup replied "It would go across the whole village and it would put out fires," he waved his arms in a grand gesture.

Astrid blinked "Wow, that could really be useful," it may have come out as an insult but she was telling the truth.

Hiccup looked surprised at what she just said, "Really, you think so?" His face turned even pinker.

"Yeah, what with the new baby dragons and accidental fires they cause. This could really help the village."

Astrid couldn't get enough of Hiccup's smile, his whole face seemed to light up. If her blushing wasn't obvious before, it would be now.

"Wow to think, my inventions, actually benefiting and not destroying something," Hiccup said with his trademark sarcasm.

Astrid rolled her eyes, "Oh come on, not all your inventions destroy things."

"Well a certain Night Furry outside might disagree with you," he said and they both laughed.

Astrid walked back to his work table to see even more blueprints and sketches on top of it. But these were even more confusing. What Astrid could make out were designs for some odd cloths, several and at all different angles.

"Okay, I'm stumped on this one," she picked up the parchment to show Hiccup.

"Oh that's just uh-" He paused for a moment to find the right words to describe the thing. "Well I guess you could call it a riding suit."

Astrid looked at Hiccup slack jawed, then back down at the desk. "Riding suit?"

"Or maybe Flight suit would be a better name?"

Astrid shook her head in disbelief, "Wait you would wear this while flying, but why?"

Hiccup crossed the room to Astrid, "Well um, when I fly with Toothless I tend to get wind burn."

"Well so do I, but you don't see me making a uuh-" Astrid looked down at the paper then back up to Hiccup. "What's it even made of?"

"Oh, leather and a stretchy material. Which has a unique property that-"

Astrid stopped listening to Hiccup after the word 'leather', and started imagining him in one of the suits he sketched. Oh gods, she could feel her face growing warming. Hiccup was closer now.

Hiccup took notice of Astrid's discomfort, "Hey, Astrid you okay? You look a bit uh red."

"Yep, fine, good." She woke up from her daydream of one her friends, her best friend, in a skin tight leather suit.

Astrid did find Hiccup attractive in unassuming hero dork kind of way. And she's kissed him a few times, it was no big deal. But maybe they were meant to mean something more. She defiantly wouldn't kiss her other friends like that. "But," she laughed at how silly she was acting and the thought of him in that contraption, "I think you would look really funny in that stupid thing."

Hiccup scoffed at her joke at his expense, "Well haha, I get it." Hiccup moved closer and bend down to look at the paper himself, "Make fun of the guy with the silly ideas."

 _Oh gods, there's the unassuming part of him,_ Astrid thought to herself as she watched him stare at his work, probably in deep thought on how he could fix it. His eyes were so green and his hair was so messy.

She punched him in his shoulder, not too hard of course just enough to make him lose his train of thought. He looked up at her with that gap tooth grin and green eyes that she swore to Thor, would be the death of her. He shook his head and let out a small laugh.

 _It could be so easy to kiss him again._ The idea crossed her mind when Hiccup looked back down at his desk full of papers.

Astrid leaned down to Hiccup's level and lightly brushed her lips on his cheek. It was barely even a kiss, Astrid was afraid he wouldn't take notice to it. But she was wrong.

Hiccup's head popped up so quickly it could have flied off, he was taken back but Astrid didn't know why; shouldn't he be use to the combination of her punching then kissing him by now?

Hiccup stood there silent and shocked, he looked around his workshop then to her

"Astrid, can I ask you a question?" he said then clearing his throat.

Astrid once again took notice to how close they were.

 _Are we the same height now?_

She gave him a nod, she was too stunned to open her mouth to reply.

"Why do you uh, sometimes kiss me?"

Her eyes widened with shock. She had to pick her next words carefully, something cool and confident.

"I don't know." she spouted out, her mouth betraying her.

"Oh," Hiccup responded. "Well can I ask you another question?" he was rubbing his arm right where she punched him.

Astrid didn't responded at all this time, she just waited to see if he would ask anyways.

"Can I- um can I kiss you?"

She wasn't surprised at his question, she was more relieved if anything. It had always been her that took the initiative. Maybe now things could change a bit. She even liked that he asked first, it was so Hiccup.

"Yes" she smiled. "Of course you can, Hiccup."

His face went deadpan at the sound of his name. "Uh okay," he looked confused for a second trying to find his words. "Do I just do it or-" he rubbed his neck.

"I mean yeah, that's how I always do it," she said as if she was impatient.

"Uh okay," he repeated himself. "Right.

Their faces mere inches away from another and yet Hiccup couldn't look Astrid in the

eye.

 _Why is he so nervous?_

 _Why am I so nervous?_

Hiccup closed his eyes while he began to close the gap between them. Astrid, however, kept her eyes open just so she could be aware of what he was doing.

Their lips made gentle contact and she could feel how soft and still they were together. He didn't apply the usual pressure that Astrid was so use to when she kissed him. Neither of their lips moved, they remained tenderly pressed against each other. But she did have to admit this was nice, different, but nice.

Hiccup awkwardly kept his arms at his side, like he was trying not to touch her. But Astrid was too busy counting the freckles around his eyes and nose to fully care. She was almost tempted to move her own arms, but she didn't want to make any sudden movements out of fear of ruin the moment.

Time didn't stand still, though to Astrid it did seem to slow down.

Hiccup slowly pulled away and Astrid could feel herself lean forward after him. Desperately wanting to make the moment last longer. He was blushing profusely and she could only guess how red her face must be. But at that very second the red hue of their checks didn't matter. The only color that Astrid cared about was green, the emerald green of Hiccup's eyes that finally made contact with her very own blue eyes.

"Uhm so," Hiccup broke the silence with his stammering. "Was that good or bad?"

Astrid looked at him blankly, mouth slightly open to suck in what little air was left in the tiny backroom. "Well," she meekly replied, "To be honest, I really don't know."

Hiccup looked taken aback by the comment, she could tell by the way his eyes shifted that he was blaming himself. Probably trying to note how he could better it.

Astrid want to save face as quickly before things turned for the worse. "I mean, you're the only person I've ever kissed. And I haven't had much practice with it. So I don't really know how good or how bad it was." That was the best answer she could hope think of, maybe it make sense to him.

She could see the wheels turning in his head trying to process what she had just said. "Yeah, I get it" he shrugged "I mean it's not like you can practice on a fish or something," he chuckled out of what Astrid could only assume was embarrassment.

Astrid laughed with him to try and defuse the tension

 _Wait, a fish?_

Astrid was stopped by a sudden case of déjà vu, but she couldn't figure out why.

 _Fish, fish, fish._ For the life of her she couldn't figure out why thatwas so familiar in this context?

When it suddenly clicked.

"Oh my Gods," she remembered what Tuffnut had said before, "Snotlout!"

Hiccup was once again taken aback by Astrid's sudden outburst of his that he had catch himself on his work bench at the loud mention of his cousin.

"You want to kiss Snotlout?" his tone shocked and slightly offended.

Astrid cocked her head towards him, realizing her mistake of not fully explain herself.

"Thor no!" she yelled disgusted at the very thought of it, "Why would I ever want to kiss Snot?" However her disgusted soon turned to laughter once she remembered what Tuffnut had meant.

"It's just that," she said between gasps of laughter, "I think Snotlout was caught practicing how to kiss on a fish!"

It didn't take long for Hiccup to get the joke, and Astrid got to see that cute gap tooth smile once again.

"What? Why?" he asked still latched on the workbench trying not to fall from laughter.

"Tuff was telling the story when I left the Mead Hall," Astrid tried to control herself "I never heard the end. But that has to be it!"

The two of them bust into a fit of roaring laughter, trying to imagine their mutual friend and nuisance swapping spit with a fish.

"I would get my other foot just to catch him in the act!" Hiccup howled.

Astrid had to hold her side from literally bursting so the bandages wouldn't rip and cause her to bleed more. "Gods, I feel sorry for the poor girl that has to settle for him!" she cackled.

"Girl? I feel sorry for the fish!" Hiccup threw his head back whooping away.

This went on for a few more moments and would subside when the two Viking teens exchanged glances, only for it start right up again.

"Besides," Astrid said wiping away a tear of joy, "I'd much rather kiss you than Snotlout."

Hiccup seemed happily surprised by her bold statement, almost as surprised as Astrid was by her sudden boost in confidence.

"Yeah, well" he rocked against the work bench and looked off to the side at another sketch. "I'd much rather kiss you than a fish." Astrid could see a faint hint of a smirk on his face.

"Funny, because kissing you is like kissing a fishbone," she retorted.

It was weird how easy things were with Hiccup around, how loose and fun she'd become. Even with the other Dragon riders, Astrid found herself to be more open. Maybe it was because they weren't constantly at war. Sure there was the occasional fight with an Outcast or a tussle with a wild Dragon. But nothing the riders couldn't handle. Berk was safe, and she was free to be Astrid.

A part of her thought the same about Hiccup, now that they became close friends in the past year he too had opened up. And Astrid could feel herself being pulled towards him. Literally. She was walking across the small room straight towards him.

Hiccup took notice of her movement from the corner of his eye, and stiffened against the workbench.

"So, do you want to try it again?" she asked as she inched her way closer to him.

She could see he was having a hard time looking her in the eye again.

 _Cute and unassuming._ Astrid thought to herself as she brushed the blonde flaxen bangs out of her eyes, so that maybe Hiccup would look her in the eye.

"If you answer my question." He said trying to keep himself balanced on his feet- foot.

Astrid cocked her head "Sure."

Hiccup seemed to gather as much confidence has he could to try and match Astrid.

"Why do you kiss me?"

Now it was Astrid's turn to gather back up her courage, it was such an obvious question Hiccup would ask. She had kissed him a few times in the past without any explanation, so of course he would want to know why.

She should have been better prepared for this. She was a shield maiden after all, she was prepared for every outcome in combat, but this wasn't a fight.

She still wanted to say something profound to him, something that captured how she felt about him. Ever since their first ride on Toothless she had seen him in a new light, not as the Chief's odd son. But a boy that showed her a different view of life. She had to say something so enlightening that they could both easily remember this as the moment that changed their friendship forever.

But nothing came to her mind. Nothing but…

"I like you. And I like kissing you." _How Smooth_.

Hiccup though, he was flabbergasted, as if he had been waiting for that answer his whole life. He grinned ear to ear proudly showing off his cute gap tooth smile.

Astrid felt like she could just melt, right on into that smile.

She then processed to gingerly wrap her arms around his shoulders and put her chin in the crook of neck. Astrid could fell him wrapping his own arms against her back.

"I like you too. And I like kissing you too." Hiccup said clumsily crushed them together.

Astrid slightly pulled away from his tight embrace with a chuckle. "Yeah," she lifted his chin up to meet her gaze, "I kind of already knew that."

"Too many years staring at you, give it away?" he said in a joking manner, already reverting back to his sarcastic tendencies.

"Mmh maybe. Or always calling me 'Milady', maybe tipped me off." She replied matching his tone in the same joking manner. "You were so obvious."

Hiccup had a look of fake offence on his face, "Why, if you don't want me to call you that just say so, Milady."

"Nah, I think it kind of has a nice ring to it."

"Oh is that so, well what about 'Beautiful Valkyrie sent down to Midgard by Odin himself?'" Hiccup said gently nudging his forehead against hers.

Astrid laughed, "That's a little long, don't you think?"

"Then I'll just stick to Milady, Milady."

"Well do you still want to try again? Because if not, I'll just go and hear the rest of Tuff's story to see if I was right."

"Only if you want to?" He formed his words into a question rather than a statement.

"Yeah, I definitely want to kiss you again." Astrid said wrapping her arms around his shoulders with more confidence.

"Then it's settled." Hiccup said wrapping his around Astrid's waist. "We'll just stay here and makeout."

"Don't sound to upset, dork." Astrid said repressing a giggle.

"Never, Milady," his words trailed off as his mouth moved closer and closer to Astrid's.

Astrid felt her eyelids falling, she couldn't keep them open this time around. She felt her whole body falling, falling straight into Hiccup.

Their lips made contact once again, but it was nothing like the crashing effect of their first, nor the softness of their second. Something was different about the way they kissed each other. Something a little more curious, something bolder. Astrid could feel it in Hiccup's movements. His lips opened and Astrid could feel her own lips following suit. Not only that, but Astrid could feel Hiccup's hands shift on her waist, in a slight up and down motion. His fingers grazed over her fresh wound. Astrid let out a painful hiss and pushed herself away from Hiccup.

"Oh Gods, I'm sorry I forgot!" Hiccup panicked, "This is all my fault!" His hands were now on his head about to pull his hair out. He had lost all the confidence from before.

"Whoah, hey. I'm fine!" Astrid said taking his hands down into her own. "It was an accident. Here" She took his hands and placed them on either side of her chest.

Hiccup's face went beyond red. "Are you sure this is okay?"

"Yeah it's okay," she laughed. "Now, where were we?" Astrid brought them back together with tug of his tunic.

Astrid turned her head as their lips met again but with more vigor. Her hands rested still on his chest. While Hiccup's hand shake awkwardly on Astrid's sides. Their movement is slow and delicate, the both are crossing new territory and neither knows not what to do.

Hiccup opens his still lips slightly and Astrid follows his lead and their lips now move together. Astrid's hands move up Hiccup's chest and wrap comfortably around his neck. She lets out a sigh of contentment and relaxes against his body.

 _This is nice._ Astrid thinks to herself.

Astrid pushes her chest flush with Hiccup's causing him to gasp against her lips. He doesn't stop the kiss, if anything he deepens it. His hands now on Astrid's back moving up and down trying to find the right place to hold.

The two teens unknowingly move backwards straight in to Hiccup's work desk. Astrid yelps as the desk hits her backside. Hiccup places one hand on the desk, supporting both of their weight. His other hand is now rests comfortably on Astrid's upper back, right in between the shoulder blades. His gently trace the pattern of her green tunic.

Astrid angles herself back against Hiccup's, he pushes their bodies closer body with a firm push on her back. Astrid can feel the vibrations from Hiccup's throat which could easily be determined as a moan.

There was a warm sensation growing from the pit of Astrid's stomach and it was rising up and up. All through her torso the heat grew and her heart pounded in her chest. She wondered if Hiccup could feel it, or if he was giving of his own? The little room felt as though it was 20 degrees hotter.

Astrid's hands moved upward into Hiccup's mess of auburn hair. Her finger dragging across his scalp, pulling the strands of the soft mop.

Hiccup instinctively deepened the kiss more, his tongue sheepishly pushes against Astrid's lips. She opens tentatively for his tongue to enter her mouth. It was warm and wet and a bit messy. Their tongues dance in a pushing motion in either of their mouths.

Both of their eyes were closed but Astrid could use her other four senses to figure Hiccup out. She could feel his body firmly against her own, and she could feel his hair slip through her fingers. She smelled the smoke of the forge fire slowly dying, but she also smelled the hint of something natural. Something oh-so Hiccup, that Astrid couldn't quite put her finger on but she loved it anyways. She could hear soft moans and gasps over the loud thumping of her heart in her ear. She tastes Hiccup's warm breath as well as the taste of his tongue on hers.

It was overwhelming to all her senses. It was all so much, everything about this was wonderfully different and exciting. Astrid felt dizzy like the room was spinning, and she could only grip to Hiccup for safety. She wanted it to stop, it was good but too much good. She need to get a hold of herself, to catch her breath, to slow down.

Astrid had always enjoyed going fast riding atop her dragon, Stormfly, feeling the adrenaline rushing through her body as she flew higher and higher. But this wasn't the same as riding a dragon, this was an intimate act between two humans. And it was too much and too fast for Astrid.

Astrid shoved Hiccup off her, "Stop!" she yelled. Astrid clutched her chest and tried to steady her panting breathing. She needed to cool down.

"Astrid? Did I touch your wound again? I'm so sorry, are you okay? I- "

"No." Astrid cut him off from his rambling. "It wasn't your fault." She sighed and hung her head in shame. "It was me, I just- it- it was too much for me."

"Oh." Hiccup stepped forward to comfort her, but stopped himself to give her space. "I'm sorry, I didn't know."

"No, it okay. I liked it," she said reaching for Hiccup, "it's just it was all happening too fast."

Hiccup's hand meets hers, "You're right I got carried away." His long fingers intertwine with her own.

Astrid let out a small chuckle, "I think we both did."

"I'm sorry, I promise we'll take things slow next time." Hiccup says in a comforting tone.

"Oh, so you think there will be a next time?"

Hiccup scoffs, "Of course there will be, you admitted you like kissing me."

Astrid rested her forehead against Hiccup's, "I don't know, I could always make out with a fish instead."

"That lucky fish." Hiccup leaned in to her closing his eyes. He sighed again, "I really am sorry though."

Astrid placed simple kiss on Hiccup's cheek, "It's okay." She pulled away from Hiccup's hands and head for the door, "I'll leave you to your work, sorry I distracted you…"

"Astrid wait!" Hiccup called after her. "I'll come with you."

"Really what about all your projects?"

Hiccup rubbed his neck, "I can- uh- take a break. There not going anywhere."

"Okay then." Astrid said through a smile.

"Wait, before that," he said pulling her back. "Can I kiss you again?" He asked oh-so tenderly with a innocent grin.

As if Astrid would say no to that cute gap toothed smile, "You don't have to ask every time."

"Well unlike someone, I don't want to surprise you."

Astrid soft at his comment, she remembers all the times she had kissed Hiccup on a whim. "I thought you liked my method?"

"To be honest, I wish your method was a little more honey and a little less hatchet."

Astrid laughed, "Sure Hiccup, you can kiss me."

Hiccup leaned in closer to her, Astrid closed her eyes from instinct and puckered her lips. Only to feel Hiccup's lips pressed against her forehead instead.

To Astrid's dismay the kiss was short peck and Hiccup pulled away faster than he leaned in. Hiccup walked away after with a cocky smile across his face.

"Hey, wait a minute!" Astrid wined.

"We're going slow, remember Milady?"

"I see how it is," she caught up with the one-legged Viking, "Come here." Astrid punched Hiccup in the same arm as before.

Hiccup yelps and holds his bruised arm, "Okay, I deserved that."

Astrid grabbed Hiccup's hand, "Come on I know some people who are going to be happy to see you." She leads him out of the forge out into the night of the small Viking village. With Toothless, now wide awake after all the commotion, bouncing after the couple.


End file.
